Resident Evil: Oblivion
by L.E. Lamkin
Summary: In the future,Umbrella is an ever-present force around the globe.Unbeknownst to the world,they have been secretly planning Earth's demise.Now,the fate of the world lies in the hands of a group of Anti-Terrorists dedicated to destroying Umbrella.
1. Prologue: Testing Session

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Author's Notes: Hey everyone. Welcome to my very first Resident Evil fic. I am a huge fan of the game series, and after seeing the newly released movie, I was inspired to take a shot at writing something about the subject matter. This story will be set far in the future, and include all kinds of new characters, creatures and ideas that have (hopefully) never been seen before in anything RE-related. It should be pretty cool, and I hope everyone likes it. **Disclaimer**: Resident Evil belongs to Capcom and all other related affiliates, and I am in no way trying to claim ownership of the franchise. Everything belongs to them. I'm just a bored 19-year-old college student who is a big fan and felt like doing this for fun. On the other hand, all the characters in this story are original, and do belong to me. Anyway, just read the story! LOL. And, please enjoy, and please please please REVIEW! I appreciate it!

Prologue

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Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

2065

Dr. Benjamin Carlo and his team approached the bank of elevators made of stainless alloyed metals, their expensive leather shoe soles clicking on the pristine tiles of the Washington Memorial Hospital. Dr. Carlo deftly removed a small rectangular key-card from one of the inner pockets of his pure-white lab coat, his dark brown, almost black, eyes focused ahead of him, seemingly oblivious to the world around him. Not even his trusted asisstants, those who seemed to constantly surround him like the lower fledglings of a wolf pack, could reach him.

He was above them, in any and all respects.

Dr. Carlo was considered a pure genius by those around him. His brilliance had taken Umbrella Corporations to new levels of the past two decades, and he'd worked his way well into the upper sanctum of the conglomerate. One of the coporation's top scientists, Carlo was to be the head of Umbrella's newest project. No one knew what Umbrella did behind closed doors. No one, however, except for Dr. Carlo and his team of scientists, and a select few from within Umbrella's ranks.

Their corporation had had its shares of mishaps, mistakes if you will, but they were always dealt with accordingly. Anyone who tried to infiltrate their laboratories, whether they wanted to steal their work, or try and put a stop to them, were neutralized as soon as it was possible.

But now, things were different.

Dr. Carlo had made sure of that. By himself, he'd begun to change the face of Umbrella Corporations itself, making it something newer, more formidable. An unstoppable force, and one to be reckoned with. Within months, he'd been inducted into White Umbrella, the most elite inner circle of the company, where the real strings were pulled, where the real power center was located.

From there, he'd led Umbrella into becoming a noticable force within the world. Within a decade, the entire continent of North America was wrapped around Umbrella's proverbial finger. Umbrella was everywhere: in people's houses all across the United States, by the distribution of their pharmaceutical products, to vaccinations and viral disease research developed for hospitals up and down the coasts of the power-house continent. After that, it was easy to branch out into the rest of the world. Umbrella already had labs all across the globe, and stretching their grasp around every single country in the world had been almost effortless.

He'd had to go through more hardships and see more violence than he would have cared for to get there, but in the end, he knew it was worth it. Now that he was working on Project X, he definitely knew.

Project X was the biggest, most brilliant project that Umbrella had ever taken on. It had taken years to develop, filled with 24-hour non-stop work days by people who were highly trained specifically for the birth of the X-Virus. The X-Virus would be the culmination of all of Umbrella's efforts. It would succeed for them where their past endeavors had failed. The T-Virus and G-Virus, developed by the long-deceased William Birkin were good enough for what they were built for, but the X-Virus would be so much more; so, so much more.

And Benjamin Carlo would be forever remembered as the man who created it. The X-Virus was his doing, his brain-child. His labor of love, and his one true life's aspiration. Umbrella was already dishing out millions upon millions of dollars just to see how the virus worked. At that very moment, three of Umbrella's top operatives, even higher than White Umbrella, were awaiting Dr. Carlo and his team in the lower levels of the hospital, where the secret laboratory was located. No one knew that deep beneath the surface of the nation's capital, there lay a place that was filled with so much brilliance, so much glory. . .and the eventual destruction of mankind, itself.

Benjamin Carlo grinned proudly as the elevator dinged into place, finally arriving on their level from his facility, deep underground. The stainless steel doors slid open silently, admitting Carlo and his five assistants. The doctor walked briskly through the doors, still clutching his personalized key-card, complete with a small photo of himself and a specialized modifier chip implanted inside that was the only key to a very special lock. Dr. Carlo slid his forefinger slowly across the upper middle section of the back wall of the elevator, and a moment later, a small console was revealed as the perfectly square section of wall flipped over.

"Please enter identification key-card," a female-sounding computerized voice intoned mechanically. Still grinning, Carlo slipped his key-card into a small slot built into the console. Less than a second later, a beeping sound ensued, and then all those present in the elevator could hear the tracks that moved the small room up and down change, switching to those that stretched far deeper into the ground than even the hospital's basement. "Lower-levels now accessible. Have a nice day."

After a slight lurching sensation, the elevator began to make its efficient descent to the laboratory. Benjamin felt a little twitter of nervousness in the lower part of his stomach, but he quickly quelled the sensation. Today, he had to be clear-headed and confident: the perfect leader for Umbrella. The perfect scientest, one to be revered and respected. He'd been in the business for a good, long fifteen years, and he felt that he had garnered at least that much in his time at Umbrella.

Approximately two minutes later, the elevator doors whisked open, revealing a plain concrete corridor, the symbols "L1" spray-painted on the blank wall next to the elevator doors. Lab coat swishing behind him, Dr. Carlo led his team onto the first level of the lab which Umbrella had code-named Eden. Benjamin never really understood Umbrella's eccentric need for code-names and their strange booby-traps, especially because of the fact that no one had tried to resist them in years. Except, he supposed, that old habits always died hard.

After another door adorned with a key-card reader at the end of the long, empty corridor, and following another long string of corridors that Benjamin had memorized long ago, the team of scientists found themselves in the uppermost level of Eden, in an observatory-like room that was mostly made of one gigantic plexi-glass wall which bubbled out over the lower levels of the facility. This was the Tower, where the experimenters could witness what their creations could do in safety. As they entered the Tower, Dr. Carlo saw the outlines of three men dressed in fine business suits, all staring down at the lower levels through the observation glass.

"Welcome to Eden," Dr. Carlo said loudly, announcing his entrance. The three members of the highest level of Umbrella Corporations turned to face their newest prodigy. Their faces were slack and indifferent, completely void of emotion. Carlo regarded them with suppressed optimism. He didn't want to come off as being too excitable and possibly sloppy. He was just as professional as them, only in different ways. Secretly, he knew that they valued him, even if they wouldn't admit it. He had, after all, developed the X-Virus, something they were very interested in.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Carlo," the man in the center said, his voice low but sturdy. He was older-looking, possibly in his fifties, but still looking fairly refined. His hair was the color of steel, as were his eyes, which shined with the inner force like that of a predator. Instantly, Benjamin felt a little intimidated, but he forced that feeling into the dark, lower parts of his mind, ignoring it. "My name is Daniel Fisher. These are my colleagues, Mr. Saunders and O'Haire."

"It is my pleasure, indeed," Carlo said, approaching the three men, shaking their hands one by one. "I am honored to have you here in my laboratory. My team and I hope you are impressed with what we've been doing here for the last several years." He smiled his most winning smile.

"That is our hope, as well, doctor," Fisher said nonchalantly. "Now why don't you explain to us exactly how your X-Virus works." Benjamin nodded enthusiastically and moved over to the observation window, staring down at the Eden lab splayed out in all of its glory. The facility used the most advanced forms of holographic technology, able to create level after level of various environments that were so real they could pass off for true reality, rather than just projections. They level they were staring at now looked exactly like a dense jungle as if it had been plucked from the middle of South America and relocated into the laboratory.

"The X-Virus works on a purely genetic level," Benjamin explained to the Umbrella officials, trying his best to keep things simple. He didn't know how much these men knew about biology, so he decided to keep it as understandable as possible. "We devised it in hopes of combining the best components of various organisms into one organism."

At that moment, a small chimpanzee loped into view, scuttling across the faux-forest floor, as if it were in its own natural habitat.

"Like this chimpanzee," Benjamin continued excitedly, staring down at one of his test subjects with bright eyes, the three business men folowing his gaze. "Once infected with the X-Virus, its genes become highly sensitive to outside forces. The brilliance of the X-Virus is that all it takes is contact of anything connected to the genetical process - blood, saliva, you name it - from any other organism, and it instantly begins its work. The virus forces the two genetic codes to combine, to literally fuse together, creating an entirely new genetic code."

"A virus that induces self-sufficient gene splicing?," Fisher asked, turning to Benjamin with one eyebrow quirked, sounding intrigued. Benjamin's eyes sparkled with glee and he nodded slowly. Fisher was hooked, he knew it. He could see it in the older man's eyes.

"This chimp here was infected with the X-Virus two days ago," Dr. Carlo told the men, speaking slowly and evenly so as to make more of an impact on them. "We introduced it to a blood sample from a fully grown male silverback gorilla by injecting it directly into the chimp's bloodstream. The effects were almost instantaneous. We now have a chimpanzee with all of the strength and instincts of a gorilla."

"Show us," Fisher demanded, voice low.

"Release Subject B," Carlo said automatically, signalling to one of his assistants. The young scientist hurried away to another section of Eden, and several minutes later, they watched as a small panel opened not far off from where the chimp was sitting, silently watching its surroundings. A confused Doberman pinscher ambled into the holographic environment, sniffing around, head held high in the air. It let out a high-pitched bark and then became silent.

"Gorillas are not violent creatures," Fisher said, sounding confused. "What is supposed to happen here?"

"That is another facet of the X-Virus," Benjamin explained, eyes gleaming. "It heightens the level of the adrenal glands, thus making an infected organism highly volatile when it feels threatened." He turned his eyes back down to the two animals now occupying the jungle enviornment.

"Watch."

It didn't take long for the chimpanzee to notice the dog now moving around in the environment that for the last two days, had claimed as its own territory. The Doberman was now invading that territory. Gorillas may not be violent creatures by nature, but Carlo knew that they were very highly territorial. In moments, a chain of events would occur and Fisher and his colleagues would have no choice but to see that his work was brilliant and want the X-Virus for themselves.

After that, Benjamin Carlo would be rich beyond his wildest imagination.

They watched with keen interest as the Doberman slowly approached the chimp, which bared its teeth and let loose a growl of anger from deep in its stomach. The dog began to whine, afraid of what it knew must be its imminent demise. Luckily for it, that wasn't too far off.

The chimp launched itself forward, screeching loudly.

The small ape picked the dog up by the neck, literally lifting the ninety-pound animal off its four muscular legs. The dog began to struggle, whining louder than before, as if it were begging for its life. Then, showcasing its true strength in an almost monumental manner, the chimp tossed the dog across the environment, throwing it a good thirty feet. The Doberman hit the wall that signalled the end of that level's enviroment, and from up in the Tower, the Umbrella staff members could hear the smashing of several bones against metal through the speaker system.

Barely alive, the Doberman could only lay there helplessly as the chimpanzee bounded over to it, digging its face into the dog's flank, ripping its flesh right off the bone, literally eating it alive.

Up in the observation room, Dr. Carlo turned to Daniel Fisher.

"So, what do you say?," he asked, arching an eyebrow. 

"Impressive," Fisher said, nodding slowly. "Very, very impressive."

The last high-pitched cry of life that escaped the Doberman before it finally succumbed to death broke the newly formed silence, as if accentuating Fisher's words. That, however, was a distant factor in Dr. Carlo's mind. All he could do was grin, and nod his head slowly up and down.


	2. One: Neo-S.T.A.R.S.

One

Ariel Walker threw a hard left at the punching bag dangling from the middle of the training room stashed away in the back of the refurbished police station that served as the private headquarters for the Neo-S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad) team, a band of renegade anti-terrorists that had been carrying the mantle of the fight against Umbrella Corporations for nearly seventy years. The real S.T.A.R.S. were long gone, chased out of the now legendary Raccoon City decades ago, forced to become martyr-like fugitives secretly trying to bring Umbrella down.

They never succeeded.

But Ariel and her team mates still fought for the same cause the real S.T.A.R.S. once did. Only twenty years of age, Ariel had already been struggling to bring Umbrella to justice for nearly two years. Ever since her hometown had been ravaged by Umbrella's cruel experiments, Ariel had managed to escape after being rescued by a motley group of ex-soldiers, police officers and people who simply knew of Umbrella's secret menaces and hoped to stop them from spreading their evil even farther. Except, as the days wore on, that was getting harder and harder.

Cocking her head hard to the left and right, Ariel stretched the muscles in her neck and shoulders, small popping sounds emenating from beneath the skin over her shoulder blades up to the smooth nape of her neck hidden beneath a mane of luxurious blond hair. Kane was always getting on her about chopping it off, claiming that it got in the way when she was in combat, but Ariel simply ignored him. She didn't have many pleasures nowadays, and her hair was one thing she actually got to enjoy. It was childish, sure, but there was a sort of calming effect when she sat in the silence of her small living quarters, brushing her long golden locks.

Sighing, Ariel figured that she could stop training for the day. She was already sweating like a pig, and a shower was definitely in order. As she began to exit the training room, she spotted a dark figure hiding in the shadows of the far corner. There were only two windows in this room, and since it was too early for the sun to have begun rising, there was almost no light at all, leaving almost the entire room swathed in shadows. Ariel cursed herself for allowing her strange little quirks (like training in darkness) get the better of her.

If an Umbrella operative had snuck into the building. . .

"Hai!," a deep voice cried out, and the shadowy figure leapt from the corner. The only reaction Ariel had time to give was a distinct widening of the eyes, and a short, sharp gasp that made her stomach feel as if it were about to tear. Her hands flew out into the air before her with deft precision, locking onto the wrists of the unseen figure before her. She allowed his momentum to take them both backward, as she landed expertly on the training room floor. Using her legs, she flipped the figure over her head, where they landed with a loud _thunk_ on the ground above her head.

Exhaling roughly, Ariel flung both of her legs up into the air simultaneously, using her lower body strength to flip herself back up to her feet. She steadied herself less than a second later and spun around to face her attacker, resuming a fighter's stance, her fists held up in the air before her, prepared to fight.

She looked down into the eyes of her attacker, only to lock gazes with a set of familiar glittering green orbs floating inside a face of light ebony. A very familiar face, one that inspired a huge sigh of frustration, mixed in with a little bit of laughter. She shook her head slowly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Jesus, Kane, you never cease to amaze me," she said coyly.

"Just making sure you're on your toes," Kane replied, a devil-may-care grin on his young, handsome face. The twenty-five year old ex-SWAT member and Ariel had had a strange relationship over the past couple of years. Kane had been one of the people to rescue her from her small town in West Virginia those two years ago, after Umbrella had another one of their freak accidents: a spill. The T-Virus had spread like wild-fire, creating mass panic throughout the small rural town. As far as she knew, Ariel had been the only civilian to make it out alive. If it hadn't been for Kane and the other Neo-S.T.A.R.S., Ariel wouldn't have had a chance at survival.

Ever since then, a significant bond had been created between the two of them. Kane was, in some ways, like a guiding figure in her life; a mentor of sorts. But in other ways, she couldn't help but sense the chemistry between them. Whenever she was around him, she felt a slight tingle go up and down her spine, and it was nothing like the similar sensation she got whenever she was afraid. No, this feeling was pleasurable, and she still hadn't quite deciphered it.

"Get off your ass," she commanded half-heartedly, reaching out one hand to help Kane up off the training room floor. He grabbed on, and yanked himself up to his full height, clocking in at almost six feet, a staggering mountain of a man compared to Ariel's compact form of only five-foot-four. 

"Don't be bitter," Kane teased, as he made his way out of the training room, Ariel right behind him. "At least you got me."

"In more ways than one," Ariel teased with a wink.

Kane laughed out loud and wrapped an arm around her narrow shoulders. They started to head back into the rest of the large building, in search of the others. They'd come across the old police station not long after their escape from Ariel's hometown. It had been shut down and commisioned by the state as free game for anyone looking for a piece of property in the city. Using funds Ariel wasn't sure how the group came by, they managed to buy the place, and made it their own.

When she thought about it, it was kind of homey. . .

In a dark, eerie and creepy kind of way. But, nevertheless, it was home. She, Kane, and the other members of the Neo-S.T.A.R.S. lived and worked there, constantly keeping tabs on Umbrella, biding their time for an eventual attack. Ariel knew there would come a day when they would finally bring the fight to Umbrella and bring them down once and for all. But for now, they simply had to wait. And wait. The waiting was definitely the worst part.

"Let's check in with Pike, see what's shakin'," Kane suggested.

"You go ahead," Ariel told him with a grin, then indicated the sweat stains on the tight, form-fitting t-shirt she was sporting. "I'm in much need of a hot shower. I'll catch up with you guys after I'm done."

"You mean I don't get to join you?," Kane asked, eyes pleading. Ariel scoffed, trying desperately to hide the blush she knew must be creeping up her neck, taking over her cheeks like a virus all on its own. She smiled shyly and spun around, laughing once more, hoping that she didn't sound nervous. She wished that she could stop acting like such a little schoolgirl, but the truth was, she was still young. She'd never really gotten to experience the whole "dating" scene. She'd gone to an all-girls academy all through her schooling career, and college was simply out of the question now that she was in so deep against this war of sorts against Umbrella.

But Ariel never liked to think about any of that.

Instead, she turned her head a little, allowing herself one last glance at Kane before she walked away from him. He grinned at her, and she could swear she saw something in his eyes that said he had feelings for her. But she couldn't be sure. So, she simply kept on walking.

Right after she spared one last backward glance.

"What've we got?," Kane asked languidly, slipping into the quasi-control room of the headquarters. Basically, it had used to be the communications center when the building had been an actual police station, and with the excessive knowledge of Pike, their resident computer genius and technological extraordinaire, they'd managed to create a fairly formidable computer center. From this room, they could track down any person, living or dead, search any known database for bank accounts, online exchanges or even a license plate number from the DMV. 

"All quiet on the western front, as of now," Pike replied, spiking up his already spiky hair with his long, thin fingers. Pike reminded Kane of a cartoon caricature of the typical nerdy computer hacker. He was tall, thin, wore glasses and had the most unruly hair he'd ever seen on a person. But the kid, only twenty-two years old, was pure genius, and had a brilliant mind. His most prized possession was 2-D, a robot he created to help the Neo-S.T.A.R.S. in their fight. 2-D looked like a human, down to the smallest detail, and could even pass off as a real one in some circles, but primarily, he was used for a very special purpose.

In one of their missions, the team had managed to nab a computer chip containing a radio wave connection to Umbrella's computer systems. Pike had managed to integrate that technology into 2-D, allowing them instant access into Umbrella's systems whenever they felt it was necessary. It wasn't always completely reliable, since Umbrella was known for sending out false information, but it was helpful nonetheless. It sometimes gave them the element of surprise that gave them the edge.

"Things have been pretty quiet over there," Kane commented, not sure if he should feel worried or not. "Do you think they're planning something?"

"We're talking about a money-grubbing conglomerate that kicks their kicks out of creating horrifying monsters built to take over the world," Pike said flatly. "They're always planning something."

"Well, keep your ear to the floor," Kane advised.

"Of course," Pike replied with a sure nod. Kane was about to leave the control center, but Pike cleared his throat purposely, catching the other man's attention. Kane slowly turned around and looked down at the computer technician, who had remained sitting in his ever-present swivel chair that probably had a permenant imprint of his ass on the cushion. "Uh, Kane. . .can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure," Kane said uneasily, quirking an eyebrow. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, it's just that. . .," Pike began, faltering. He frowned a little, then attempted to continue. "You see, I. . .Well, it's complicated."

"And understanding you is right up there with it," Kane said, grinning. Pike laughed nervously, and began to wring his hands together in his lap. He kept shifting in his seat, running his hands through his hair over and over. More than a few times, he adjusted his glasses, changing their position on his slope of a nose.

"I'm. . .sorry," he murmured. "It's about. . .Ariel."

"What about her?," Kane asked, knowing in the back of his mind what this was all about. Kane wasn't exactly surprised. Ariel was a beautiful young woman, and she was about the same age as Pike. They'd been through several life-threatening situations together, and that created a bond between people unlike any other. It was fairly natural for Pike to develop feelings for Ariel.

Except. . .

"Pike, I'm sure Ariel would be flattered that you -," Kane began, but Pike interrupted him with a short bark of a laugh.

"No, no, no, it's nothing like that!," Pike exclaimed, eyes wide. His face screwed up with even more consternation than before, looking completely uncomfortable about what he was about to say next. Kane slowly slid into another one of the seats stashed away in the back of the control center, anxiety causing his brow to furrow, his eyebrows knotted together in the middle of his forehead.

"Pike, tell me what's going on," Kane demanded.

"I was surfing through a bunch of old Umbrella files yesterday night," Pike informed him, keeping his voice low. Kane had to lean in close just to be able to hear the younger man. "That's what I've been up all night doing. And I don't know how I did, but I stumbled across one file in particular. . ."

"Keep going," Kane persisted monotonously.

"The file was all about a guy named Norman Walker," Pike continued, swallowing hard. "Apparently, he was a head honcho for Umbrella for a long, long time. For exactly eighteen years. He was part of something called the 'Eve' project. Went along with something about a lab called Eden, or something. The details were pretty sketchy. And. . ."

"And what?," Kane asked. Pike fidgeted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable.

"I'm pretty sure he's Ariel's father," he finally said, voice just barely above a whisper. Kane could do nothing but stare forward in shock, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape, his mind whirring a thousand miles a minute.


	3. Two: Solemn Vow

Two: Solemn Vow

Fifteen minutes later, freshly showered, wet hair clinging to her heart-shaped face, Ariel meandered into the control room, where she found Kane and Pike both sitting tensely in a couple of the comfortable chairs used for working with the computer systems and other gadgetry that took up the very large room, which Ariel assumed must have been taken up by cubicles long ago when the building had actually been a working police station. However, all of the cubicle walls had been taken down, leaving it to be one vast, open room, like a large studio apartment. Most of the room was bare, except for the one wall covered in tons of computer screens and other technology Ariel knew nothing about. In the far corner, there was a hibernation-pod type of device which Ariel knew was the charger for 2-D, their robotic assistant. She liked 2-D, as much as anyone could like a machine, despite how realistic he seemed at times, but there were times when he thoroughly creeped her out. He just seemed a little too real at times. Sometimes he would just look at her with his blue prosthetic eyes, and it would seem like he was gazing down into her very soul, analyzing every thought that could possibly enter her mind. Shivering slightly, Ariel tossed those thoughts out of her mind and focused on the current situation. Which, she had to admit, she had no idea what it was.

"Is everything okay?," she asked of Pike and Kane, who both looked quite startled to see her standing there. She supposed she had been pretty quiet about her entrance. The two young men stared at her with a strange look in their eyes, as if they were afraid she might suddenly open fire on them or something. She quirked an eyebrow and moved further into the room. "What's with the weird staring? Is there something on my face? Is my hair sticking up?"

"Uh. . .no, it's not your hair," Pike finally said quietly.

"Then what is it?," Ariel demanded, getting a little impatient. She loved Pike, she really did, he was like a brother to her. But sometimes he was just so goddamn slow about everything. The boy was a genius, he could repair a computer in a matter of minutes and decrypt any single file Umbrella could throw at him, but he was seriously lacking in the common sense department. She stalked closer to her friends, and teammates, and put her hands on her hips. "Is something going on? Something Umbrella-related?"

"You could say that," Kane told her uneasily. Ariel's blood quickened and she felt her heart start to pump faster than normal. She could tell by looking into Kane's eyes that he was worried or scared about something. It was the way they were so wide and innocent looking, like he was a fragile child. And she knew that if Kane was afraid, some bad shit was about to go down somewhere.

"Tell me," Ariel said flatly, trying to hide her own fear. She'd faced some of Umbrella's nasties before, she knew what they were capable of. She'd survived this long, she could keep up the tradition for at least one more mission, right? At least, that's what she kept telling herself. She busied herself with trying to squeeze all of the extra water still clinging to her thick honey-colored hair, so she didn't have to focus on the fact that they might be heading into another dangerous situation, and that there was a chance some of them might not survive.

"I found a particular Umbrella file earlier," Pike explained, sparing one quick glance Kane's way, then connecting his line of sight once more with Ariel's. She could also see that same look of worry and unease in Pike's shifty green eyes. Now, she was starting to get more than a little freaked out. Her impatience was now completely thrown out the window. By this point, all she could do was feel fear. Anytime Umbrella was involved, it was never good. That went without saying. "It talked about a very respected researcher that used to work for them, about twenty years ago. Apparently, he was working on something called the Eden Project, a lab out in Washington D.C. He was developing a new virus for Umbrella, different than the T-and-G series. They called it the X-Virus."

"What does it do?," Ariel asked, all business.

"No idea," Pike answered just as quickly as she had asked. "There weren't any details about the virus, itself. Just. . .the man who worked on it."

Ariel could sense something coming on the horizon; something bad. Her stomach suddenly twisted into knots and she felt a little bit dizzy. She swallowed a couple of times and tried to refocus on something before she collapsed to the floor. Why was she feeling like this? She knew it probably had to do with all of the anxiety that went along with the pre-mission jitters she always felt.

"Who was it?," she asked, swaying back on forth on her legs uncomfortably. She cleared her throat. "I mean, who was the guy?"

"His name was Norman Walker," Kane said softly.

Before she had even fully processed every thought that belonged to a long chain reaction of thoughts, all because of that one little statement, that one sentence, tears began to flow evenly down Ariel's cheeks. Her vision blurred and she closed her eyes so as to block out the foggy world that now surrounded her. She didn't want to look at a world that made things like this happen.

A world that made your dad become a scientific mastermind working for an evil biological corporation. The enemy, everything she and her friends stood against. All along, she'd had suspicions. She'd wondered. But now. . .things were beginning to make some kind of sense. Distorted, fragmented memories came back to her, back from when she was a little child, and it clicked. . .

_"Why are you leaving again, Daddy?," a five-year-old Ariel asks, staring plaintively up at her father as he prepares to leave the house once again. She doesn't like it when he has to go, but he does it all the time. Ariel is slowly getting used to it, even though it upsets her._

"You know Daddy has to go to work, baby," her father says to her, scooping her up in his big, strong arms. Ariel likes being held by her Daddy. It makes her feel safe and secure and warm. "Daddy has to go to the capital of the entire country! Remember, Washington D.C.?"

"That's where the President lives!," little Ariel exclaims, smiling.

"That's right!," her father coos, pinching her nose. "Daddy works very hard for the President, and other very important people. And that's where I have to go now, sweetie. But I'll be back soon, I promise!"

"I love you, Daddy," Ariel whispers into her father's neck.

"I love you, too, baby," he says back. . .

Ariel opened her eyes slightly and wiped some of the thick, salty saline liquid away from them, smearing the tears across her cheeks. She tried to take deep, calming breaths, but it wasn't working. Her brain wouldn't stop whirring, her heart wouldn't stop pounding in her chest like a loud, jarring jackhammer. This was too much for her to take. She couldn't believe this. She knew that that memory had been of the last time she'd ever seen her father alive. He never came back after that. . .

"You never knew your dad worked for Umbrella?," Pike asked gently. Fresh tears continued to replace those already spent, and Ariel gave up trying to get rid of them. She figured she should just let them all get out, and get it over with. She hated crying, she hated everything about being weak - but she couldn't help it. 

"No. . .," she murmured, shaking her head. "No, I. . .I mean, I knew he worked for the government. He flew back and forth constantly from home and D.C., but. . .I never knew he had connections with Umbrella. I-I was too young to really understand, and. . .He was gone forever by the time I was only five years old."

"Five years?," Pike asked, narrowing his eyes. Ariel nodded absently. Pike turned back to his main computer console, which Ariel could see through her blurry vision was taken up by many documents that Pike had probably decrypted from highly classified Umbrella files. She and Kane watched him silently as he searched through several sections of text. "That's at about exactly the same time things started really moving with the Eden Project. Umbrella brought in some new blood, some guy named Benjamin Carlo. He was so good, Umbrella decided to give him your dad's job, Ariel." The computer hacker extraordinaire turned to look at her, eyes softened by grief and sorrow, mouth turned into a slight frown.

"They neutralized Norman so that Carlo could take over in his place."

"Neu-. . .Neutralized?," Ariel stammered, eyes widening, mouth gaping open slightly, her breath quickening. Some part of her harried mind knew what that meant, but a large part of her conscious self didn't want to accept something like that. It sickened her that people could actually do something so horrible. Even if her father had really been some unscrupulous scientist, no one deserved to be outrightly murdered. Especially for a job position. . .

"Damn those bastards," Kane muttered, looking down at his feet.

"Is. . .is this Carlo guy still alive?," Ariel asked, trying to mask the extreme horror and sadness that was overwhelming her heart and mind.

"Seems so," Pike replied with a small shrug. "There's nothing that indicates anything otherwise. I imagine he's been a big part of this whole X-Virus thing. Probably helped further develop it."

"We have to find him," Ariel stated evenly.

"What?," Kane asked, looking up at her, surprise in his dark brown eyes. "Ariel, no, we - we can't do something like that. It's risky, at best. If Umbrella caught us over a little thing like that. . ."

"Little?," Ariel exclaimed, voice rising. "Little!? The man took my father's place - literally! My father was killed for him! I'm going to find him, and I'm going to even the scales. I don't care if any of you are willing to go with me, or not. I'm going to find this Benjamin Carlo, and I am going to kill him."

A thick, heavy, fog-like silence overtook the large room. Ariel and Pike stared at each other, almost verbalizing to each other with their eyes. Ariel was mentally shouting at him to understand, to support her. She knew what she had to do, and she was going to need backup. She may have been able to exude a sense of bravery and act tough, but she was still nothing but a kid; she was only twenty years old, not old enough to have to deal with these kinds of problems. When she thought about it, no one should ever have to handle something like this, but she supposed that some people never got that kind of choice. People like her.

Kane seemed to be trying to soothe her with his dark, dark eyes. Trying to call out to her more rational self. But she was past that, she was past rationality. She had made her decision. She would go after Benjamin, no matter what it took. And if she managed to take down another section of Umbrella, that would be all the better for her. Her mind was completely made up, and not even Kane would be able to change that.

"Uh, there's something else. . .," Pike murmured, breaking the tense energy that had begun to rise up between Ariel and Kane. The two other members of the Neo-S.T.A.R.S. turned their attention to the scrawny blond. "Something's going on at the Eden lab. I can't figure out what it is, but I'm picking up some weird signals being sent out from over there. I'm gonna put 2-D on it, see what he can track."

"Good idea," Kane agreed with a nod. He turned to Ariel, to try and talk some sense into the young woman - but she was already gone.


End file.
